Stephen Fiifi Boafo, a member of the communications team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has given reasons why the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, must resign over the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa.
He says the Ministry presented conflicting documents to the Minority Caucus and to a media house that requested records on the disbursement.
Speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, he noted that the existence of two different documents for the same disbursement raises questions.
Citing documents received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fiifi Boafo noted that the document presented to the Minority was typed and contained names, passport numbers, telephone numbers, amounts received and signatures, while the one presented to the media house was handwritten with only names, telephone numbers and signatures.
According to him, the two different documents raise doubts as to whether the same beneficiaries signed twice for the same amount.
“Is the Ministry suggesting to us that the people signed on the one that was typed and the same people came back to sign on the one that was handwritten?” he asked, questioning the authenticity of the records.
“What was presented to Parliament was actually typed and then we only had the people signed. What was presented to the media house, it was handwritten and the people signed. It was only the name of the person, their telephone numbers and signature,” he explained.
The former Head of Public Affairs for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) further stated that the Minister’s continuous stay in office could compromise evidence.
“The very reason why the Minister must immediately leave office or the President pushes him is the fact that his continuous staying in office has a high likelihood of compromising the evidence that would be found,” he said.
The call for the Minister’s resignation follows an evacuation exercise conducted by the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where 1,964 Ghanaians were airlifted from South Africa between May 27 and September 4, 2026, following reported xenophobic attacks.
The Ministry said the exercise cost GH¢49,721,786, with GH¢33.7 million coming from government and GH¢16 million from Engineers & Planners as private support. The amount covered flights, accommodation, feeding and reintegration support.
Each evacuee was to receive GH¢5,000 as reintegration support and GH¢500 for transportation.
The Minority in Parliament, after filing a Right to Information request and receiving over 200 pages of documents from the Ministry, raised concerns about the expenditure.
At a press conference on October 11 and a follow-up on October 27, 2026, led by Ranking Member Samuel Abu Jinapor and Deputy Ranking Member Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, the caucus claimed more than GH¢16.4 million of the expenditure requires further explanation, citing gaps in payment registers, duplicate entries, missing signatures and discrepancies in flight manifests.
The caucus is demanding that the sector Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, resigns, and have threatened a vote of censure should he refuse.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has requested a special audit by the Auditor-General into the evacuation.
